How does admission work in Africa?

For applicants and families · Last verified 2026-11-08

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Admission in Africa is not one process. In some countries a national body decides which institution takes you, and in others you apply to each institution yourself, so the first thing to learn is which route you are on.

This article helps you and your family decide where to start. It explains the two main routes, shows what each looks like in a real case, and then covers the check you should make before you pay any fee. For the details of a single country, the articles on Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Rwanda go further.

Some countries place you through a national body

In a placement route, you do not negotiate with each institution. A national body matches applicants to places, as Kenya and Nigeria show below.

According to its website, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) selects students for admission to universities, national polytechnics, TVET institutes and other accredited institutions for Government-sponsored programmes. The same page says KUCCPS does not place students in private colleges, so a family looking at a private college needs a different route.

In Nigeria, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) places qualified candidates in tertiary institutions, taking into account vacancies, each institution's approved guidelines and candidate preferences. Its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) is where admissions are handled, and JAMB says candidates can confirm provisional admissions there. JAMB also publishes rules that decide who can be considered at all. For 2026 it sets a minimum tolerable score of 150 for universities and colleges of nursing and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education, and a minimum age of 16.

In other cases you apply to each institution

In a direct route, the institution reads your application and decides. This is why the steps differ so much from one institution to the next, and why you read the institution's own page before you gather documents.

The University of Rwanda shows what a full online route looks like. You register for an applicant ID on its MIS portal, create an account on the applications portal, complete your profile, select up to three programmes ranked by preference, upload your documents, verify your email and submit. A confirmation email then gives you an application reference number. The University of Ghana is simpler for international applicants: for undergraduate international applicants you pay a non-refundable application processing fee of US$55 (the amount the page gives), scan the proof of payment and your certificates as PDFs, and upload them through its application portal. The university says no application is processed without proof of payment.

For anything the page does not say, contact the admissions office early, using the address on the institution's page, rather than guess.

Check that the institution is recognised before you pay

Whichever route you take, check the institution with the national regulator before you pay a fee. A fee is only worth paying to an institution that is allowed to teach.

In Ghana, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) publishes lists of accredited, unaccredited and unrecognised institutions on its website. In Rwanda, the Higher Education Council (HEC) has an accredited institutions page that names the public institutions and links to a 2025 list of programmes offered by accredited private institutions. Both pages list institutions, and the GTEC page does not list individual programmes, so you may still need to ask the institution whether your chosen programme is accredited. Avoiding scholarship scams and fees that should not exist covers a related check on payments.

Confirm with the institution

Deadlines, fees and rules can differ by body, so the page of the institution or national service is always the final word. The pages above do not all give dates, so you confirm those directly. If you are comparing study in another country, start with the route that country uses, and keep a note of what each institution asks for.

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